KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — At least 23 people have died after drinking moonshine in impoverished rural regions of eastern Ukraine that border on the former Soviet republic’s war zone, officials said yesterday.

The prosecutor’s office of the eastern city of Kharkiv reported the deaths of another five people over the past 24 hours, adding to the 13 killed by the lethal vodka in various parts of the region since Friday.

Five others died after drinking “illicit brandy” in the neighbouring Donetsk region, parts of which are run by pro-Russian separatist militias, the pro-Kiev regional police office said.

The police said the deadly spirits were delivered earlier from the Kharkiv region, where a total of 53 people have been treated for alcohol poisoning from drinking the illegal brew.

The officials said they had detained three suspects, all grocery store owners in the Kharkiv region who face from five to 10 years in jail if convicted of producing the lethal spirits.

Police said they had found back-street stills in the Kharkiv region that they believed were used to produce the moonshine illegally using low-grade ingredients.

Illicit alcohol is more widespread in rural regions of Ukraine, one of Europe’s poorest states.

The country has been riven by corruption and a 29-month pro-Russian insurgency that has claimed more than 9,600 lives.

Yet such mass poisoning cases remain rare, in contrast to neighbouring Russia, where bootleg alcohol is sold widely, killing thousands every year.